Fish-plate and noise-reducing device for railways.



Patented Dec. 30, 1902.

H. a. FARR. FISH PLATE AND NOISE REDUCING DEVICE FOR RAILWAYS.

Application filed Apr. 3, 1902.]

(No Model.)

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

HIRAM G. FARR, OF WINCHESTER, MASSACHUSETTS.

FISH-PLATE AND NOISE-REDUCING DEVICE FOR RAlLWAYS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 717,088, dated December30, 1902. Application filed April 3, 1902. Serial No. 101,228. (Nomodel.)

To atZZ whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, HIRAM G. FARR, of Winchester, in the county ofMiddlesex and Commonwealth of Massachusetts, have invented certain newand useful Improvements in Fish- Plates and Noise-Reducing Devices forRailways, of which the following is a description sufliciently full,clear, and exact to enable any person skilled in the art or science towhich said invention appertains to make and use the same, referencebeing had to the accompanying drawings, forming part of thisspecification, in which- Figure l is a perspective View of a rail-jointand tie, showing my improved fish-plate, packing, and chair-plate; Fig.2, a transverse section showing a modified form of plate; Fig. 3, an endView of a rail, showing still another form of plate with packingcontained; Fig. 4, a perspective showing the ordinary fish-plateprovided with my improvement.

Like letters of reference indicate corresponding parts in the differentfigures of the drawings.

My invention relates especially to devices for counteracting thevibration set up in railway-rails through the impact of the carwheels,whereby the noise resultant may be materially lessened. In carrying outthis I make use of a peculiar form of fish-plate and chair, which ofitself will check to a large extent such vibrations, but in additionwill hold a substantially non-vibratory packing firmly against the rail,and thus kill such vibrations and the noise or sound-waves set up.

In the drawings, A represents the tie, and B O the rails, of ordinaryconstruction.

D represents a form of fish-plate well known in the art in its generalconfiguration and held in the usual manner, by spikes f to the tie andby bolts 9 through the rail-webs. The face of this form of plate thatordinarily meets the rail-web flush I, however, provide with a series ofprongs h, for which flanges or other form of projection maybesubstituted. I find that by clamping such plates against the rails atthe ends the vibration therein is materially checked in much the samemanner as when a point is held rigidly against a pianostring. Acontinuous flat surface in contact will not accomplish this in a rail,but a point or series of points will.

To make this noise reduction more effective, however, I incorporate asheet of non-vibratory material c' between the fish-plate and rail. Forthis I preferably employ a thick sheet of lead, but rubber or otherequivalent material may be used.

When the fish-plates are set up by the bolts 9, the prongs h penetratethe sheet of lead 11 and themselves contact with the rail-web, whilealso said lead is forced into rigid contact with said web, with theeffect that all vibration is crossed or broken and reduced to a minimum.Under the rail, as a further precaution, I may dispose a species ofchair E. This is provided on its upper face with a series of flanges jor other suitably-formed projections, which will engage the base of therail and which will penetrate a sheet of lead 7c.

The form shown in Fig. 2 is substantially identical with that in Fig. l,excepting that the fish-plate does not overlap the rail-flange and isheld down by ordinary spikes m.

In Fig. 3 another well-known form of fish- 7 plate is shown providedwith a flange p, underlying the rail to form a chair, and with openings(1 r for the spike and. bolt, respectively. The lead 7 is in this formpressed firmly against the rail, and no prongs are ems. ployed.

Fig. 4 shows the most common form of fishplate p, secured to the railsin the ordinary manner. This also I provide with projections it on itsinner face and penetrating the lead sheet c'.

I do not claim any particular form of fishplate in the main, as any ofthe well-known shapes provided with proper projections may be employed,nor to forming such projections on the fish-plates alone.

The rigid contact of the lead at the rail end and the driving of pointsor projections against the rail, whereby noise from vibration islessened, constitute the salient feature of my invention.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim is r V 1. A fish-plateprovided with projections for contacting with the rail in combinationwith a mass of non-vibratory material inter posed between said plate andrail.

2. A fish-plate provided with projections in combination with arailway-rail; a mass of non-vibratory material interposed between saidplate and rail; and devices for securing the plate to'the rail wherebysaid projections are caused to penetrate said non-vibratory material andare held with it in rigid contact with the rail.

3. ArailWay-rail in combination with a mass of lead or similarsubstantially non-vibratory material: a solid plate provided with aseries of independent projections adapted to contact with the under faceof said rail and 10 whereby said material may be held in rigid contactwith such face and prevented from being compressed and thereby displacedwhen load is applied to said rail.

HIRAM G. FARR. Witnesses:

O. M. SHAW, O. M. WILBUR.

